Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ABUJA2981
2006-11-15 13:57:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Abuja
Cable title:  

US ACADEMIC "WORRIED" ABOUT ELECTION PREPARATIONS

Tags:  PGOV KDEM PHUM NI ELECTIONS 
pdf how-to read a cable
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P 151357Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY ABUJA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7805
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUEHOS/AMCONSUL LAGOS 5537
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 002981 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/14/2016
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM NI ELECTIONS
SUBJECT: US ACADEMIC "WORRIED" ABOUT ELECTION PREPARATIONS


Classified By: Ambassador John Campbell for Reasons 1.4 (b and d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 002981

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/14/2016
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM NI ELECTIONS
SUBJECT: US ACADEMIC "WORRIED" ABOUT ELECTION PREPARATIONS


Classified By: Ambassador John Campbell for Reasons 1.4 (b and d)


1. (C) Ambassador hosted a lunch for a U.S.-based academic
with over forty years of Nigerian experience to exchange
views on the preparations for Nigeria's widely-anticipated
April, 2007 election. The academic said that in all the
years of visiting Nigeria, the mood had "never been so
negative." The shoddy preparations and the apparent
insincere attitude of President Olusegun Obasanjo had turned
many off the process, she said.


2. (C) She commented that she had never seen the level of
anger as high as it is today. "I have to search to find
anyone that expects an election to happen on time, and even
then I have not been successful," the academic continued.
She also described the deterioration of living conditions for
the bulk of Nigeria's population. "Those in the middle class
in the seventies are now suffering and many of them are
physically ill with no opportunity for treatment either here
or abroad." The man-in-the-street who, in the past, at least
had a hope of rising into the middle class is now "without
hope," she said, since most of the middle class are now in
the same straits. "Other than a very few people profiting
from the current administration, everyone appears worse off
and, worse, they know it," she concluded.


3. (C) The academic was concerned that Nigerian's patience
was wearing thin. "We always say that Nigeria goes to the
brink (of disaster) but pulls back before it is too late,"
she said. However, those that say that always ignore the
"miscalculation" that led to the civil war, she emphasized.


4. (C) COMMENT: This academic is well known to Nigerians
and the U.S. Embassy for many years and has had professional
relationships with many both inside the Obasanjo government
(including the President himself) and in the opposition. Her
views have been negative for some time, but the sense of
desparation she described among the professionals and
politicians is appreciably worse than four months ago. Her
worries about getting through the next 6-9 months are common
through most of our Mission contacts outside of the
government, including civil society organizations. END
COMMENT.
CAMPBELL